D 520 
.17 K7 
Copy 1 




Are Italy's Claims on 
Istria Dalmatia and O 
Islands Justified • 



>s 



THOU SHALL NOT STEAL 
NE KRADI 




On 

Great 

Serbia 



By the 

REVEREND M. D. KRMPOTIC 

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS 

NINETEEN FIFTEEN 



By transfer 
The White House. 



s*° 



-p^ 




I. 

' ' Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but 
half his foe. ' ' Milton, Paradise Lost. Bk-IL. 648. 

TALY'S entry into the European conflict seriously affects the 

3 successful and satisfactory adjustment of territorial rights 

among the Balkan Slavs, especially of these within the Aus- 
tro-Hungarian Monarchy. 

If Italy's ambitions materalize, this war, professed to 
be waged on the behalf of "liberty and justice,'' will be but a 
cruel mockery, when applied to Southern Slavs, especially 
to the Croats and Slovenes, that inhabit the eastern littoral of the Adria- 
tic, for instead of ''liberty and justice" they will feel the bonds of oppres- 
sion and wrong. 

Italy and, seemingly the whole world .considers, Istria, Dalmatia and 
the adjacent islands a part of "unredeemed Italy" (Italia irredenta), 
Italy's lawful heritage, whose moral title to those countries is not to be 
questioned. 

Historically and ethnografically, those are purely Croatian coun- 
tries, which were occupied and held by them since the middle of seventh 
century.* The Italians in Dalmatia and its islands constitute only three 
per centum of the total population, and in Istria less than one-third. 
Does this practically insignificant number of Italians justify Italy's de- 
sire and right of making these countries a part of its own body? 

It is the historic past that actuates Italy's ambition in this direction, 
and it points to this fact in a vague manner as a justification for its self- 
ish schemes. 

The salient historical points that have a bearing on this question 
are here briefly mentioned. Dalmatia was a part of the Byzantine em- 
pire for six centuries (530-1102). Byzantine rule over Dalmatia was 
practically nominal, especially towards its close. Constantine Porphhyro- 
genete, states in his book "De Administrando Imperio," the Dalma- 
tian in 887 completely destrowed a fleet dispatched against them by 
Venice, and for more than a century exacted tribute from the "Queen 
of Adriatic." In 998 they were finally subjugated by Doge Peter Or- 
seolo II., who assumed the title of Duke of Dalamatia. Later on the 
Croats dominated there. In 1389 the whole Adriatic littoral from Rije- 
ka (Fiume )to Kotor (Cattaro), except Zadar (Zara) and Dubrovnik 
(Ragusa) was annexed to the Bosnian kingdom by its founder, Stephen 
Tvrdko. Subsequent Turkish invasions shook the foundation of the 
Bosnian realm, and this rendered the Venetian conquest over Dalma- 
tia easy. After 1463 Turkish advance continued, and in 1540 Dalmatia 
became a Turkish province. Only maritime cities were left under 

* Anno ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christ! MLXXI, indictione 

VIII, die octava mensis Julii Ego Cresimir, rex Dalmatinorum ac Chroa- 

torum A. D. 1078 the 8th of July, I Cresimir the king of Dalmatians and 

Croatians (His official title on manifestos or ordinances.) 



Page Three 



Venetian control. To these the Christian Slavs thronged from the in- 
terior seeking refuge from the Turks and bringing with them their 
language and customs. They in time greatly outnumbered the Vene- 
tian population, thus blocking forcible Italian assimilation. The peace 
at Karlovci (Carlowitz) 1699, restored Venetian rule in Dalmatia, where 
it continued until 1797, when by the treaty of Campo Formio, between 
Austria and Napoleon, it bacame Austrian territory. From 1805 to 1814 
it was under French control; when the Congress of Vienna in 1815 
incorporated it in the Austrian monarchy, where it has remained since. 

Dalmatia by the Compromise of 1868 between Hungary and Croa- 
tia and according to the Diploma of Coronation or Inaugurale was to 
be reincorporated in Croatia as together with those other Croatian prov- 
inces, as soon as freed from Turkish rule. These solemn obligations 
were never fulfilled. The kingdom of Dalmatia, though de jure part 
of Triune kingdom of Croatia Slavonia and Dalmatia, has de facto been 
in the possession of Austria since the expulsion of the FYench, 1815. 
The Dalmatian Croats are one of the finest seafaring races in Europe, 
and the cream of the Austro-Hungarian navy is recruited from among 
them. In 1900 the total population amounted to 548,823, of whom only 
15,279 were Italians; of the remaining 97 per cent (565,276) 80 per 
cent were Croats and 16 per cent Serbs. All the Croats and Slovenes 
in Istria, Dalmatia and the adjoining islands are Roman Catholics. The 
Bishoprics in Dalmatia are in Sibenik (Sebenico) Split (Spalato) Ffvar 
(Lesina) Makarska, Dubrovnik (Ragusa), and Kotor (Cattaro), Za- 
dar (Zara), the capital, is the see of an Archbishop as well as of a 
Greek orthodox Bishop. The ancient Slavic liturgy, known as the 
"Glagolitza," deriving the name of the word "glagol, glagolati, to 
speak," has been in general use among the Slavs of Dalmatia and 
Croatia from the earliest times since the Slavonic language became a 
liturgical language, under Pope John VIII. Its use was definitely set- 
tled by the Constitution of Urban VIII, dated April 29, 163 1. At pres- 
ent the Slavic language for the Roman rite, printed in G'lagolitic char- 
acters, is used in the Croatian churches of the Dioceses Senj (Zengg), 
Krk (Veglia), Zadar (Zara), Split (Spalato) and in several hundred 
churches and parishes along the Adriatic. The Croatian language is 
in official use in administration and in the courts of Dalmatia. 

Istria, now an Austrian province. After the fall of the Western 
Roman empire, Istria was annexed to the Frankish kingdom by Pip- 
pin in 787 ; in 828 it became a component part of Croatia.** From 
Istria the Slavs were a constant peril to Italy.*** About the middle of 

**Constantine Por De adm. imp. c. 30. ***Pope Gregory the Great in the 
summer A. D. 600 wrote to Maxim the Bishop of Dalmatia: Et quidem de 
Slavorum gente quae vobis valde iminet, affligor vehmenter et conturbor; 
affligor in his, quae jam in vobis patior, conturbor, quia per Istriae partem 
iam Italiam intrare coeperunt." Farlati, II. p. 287. They invaded A. D. 662, 
Apulia: Venientes Slavi cum multitudine navium longe a civitate Siponto 
castra posuerunt." Paulus diaconus, lib. 4 c. 4C. 

Page Four 



the Tenth century the Duke of Carinthia, "Koroski Knez," the Dukes 
of Meran, the Duke of Bavaria and the Patriarch of Aquileia success- 
ively ruled over it. In 1596 Emperor Rudolph separated Istria from 
Croatia, over which matter the Croatian Ban Thomas Bakatch, quar- 
relled with that ruler in Prague, and laid down his office as a protest 
against such an unjust proceeding. Thereafter Venice became and re- 
mained the mistress of the western part of Istria until 1797, the time 
of the peace of Campo Formio, when it reverted to Austria. 

Istria, containing 1,908 square miles, consists of a pear-shaped 
peninsula, extending from the suburbs of Trst (Trieste) to the suburbs 
of Rijeka (Fiume). Pula (l'ola), the capital is a strong naval base and 
dockyard. It possesses a local Diet of thirty-three members, sitting 
at Poretch (Parenzo). The western coastline from Trst to Pula is 
a mixed population, the majority being Italians. The uplands of the 
northwest are Slovenes, while the eastern half of the peninsula and 
the islands of Cres (Cherso) and Krk (Veglia) are Croats, almost to a 
man. 

When in 1870 Victor Emmanuel entered the Quirinal and said: 
"ci siamo, e ci restcremo," old Garribaldi and Mazzini, with their fol- 
lowers were not satisfied, for they considered the unification of Italy as 
vet incomplete. They demanded that Tyrol, Istria, Trieste, and possi- 
bly Dalmatia be added to the new unified Italy. These claims arose 
partly from over-ambition and ignorance regarding the true character 
of the peoples inhabiting the countries in question, and partly from the 
unjust policy shaped by German bureaucrats in Vienna of the Austrian 
rule in Istria and Dalmatia, which consisted in neglecting the Croatian 
and Slovenian element, and showing favoritism to the Italian party. 
"Divide and impera." Divide and rule. 

As a result of this agitation the irredentist party was born in Italy. 
Its activities have pushed Italy into the present war. Under the pres- 
sure of the irredentist, it was difficult for official Italy to ally herself 
with hated Austria, while the moderate party under the guidance of 
Cavour (consorteria) favored an alliance with France, as against Aus- 
tria. 

The Croatian Sabor (Parliament) on June 5, 1848, petitioned Fer- 
dinand V., the king of Croatia and emperor of Austria, to incorporate 
the provinces of Istria, Carniolia, Carinthia. Goricza and Styria with 
Croatia. The jealous activities of the Maygars defeated this just de- 
mand based upon the treaties and the laws of ethnography and nature 
for those provinces were peopled by the sturdy Slovenian race identical 
with the Croatians in history, culture and religion. This claim had a 
legal foundation in 1712 under Croatian Prragmatical Sanction, and in 
Electoral Diploma of 1527, when Croats unanimously elected Ferdinand 
of Austria as their king, and confirmed the succession to him and his 
heirs. 

In the intervals seperating these historic events manifold vicissi- 

Page Five 



tudes beset these countries, the Latin, the Turk and the Teuton alter- 
nately reached out rapacious tentacles of conquest. Each strived in 
turn to Latinize, to Germanize or to Mohamedanize the inhabitants. In 
spite of centuries of long effort, they all have failed. 

Can it be reasonably claimed that the fact, the Venetian republic 
at one time ruled those countries justifies Italy's pretensions to them 
now? 

But Istria and Dalmatia are the "pound of flesh" from the body 
of an inoffensive nation, promised to Italy by the Entente Powers as 
an inducement for its coming to their aid. Had Austria added these 
inducements to its original offer, Italy would no doubt have remained 
neutral. But since, as I have endeavored to show, Italy has no right 
to those countries wherein the justification can be made of its conquest 
of them. 

Austrian rule in Istria and Dalmatia does not, it is true, satisfy 
the people, but they would much rather remain loyal to Austria than 
suffer Italian mastery, for that would most certainly mean the revival 
of a painful and unseemly struggle for the preservation of the racial 
identity. Similar struggles in past centuries are still fresh in their 
memories, and these help to keep aglow the smoldering embers of ha- 
tred towards Italians. There is no nation on the globe more hated by 
the people of those countries than the Italians. 

Even under Hapsburg dominion, the Croats and Slovenes of Istria 
and Dalmatia have to maintain a bitter contest with Italophiles for the 
untrammeled use of their language, the preservation of their press and 
schools. They have always refused to allow their national conscious- 
ness to be effaced or Italianized. 

Only a few years ago in many Istrian towns it was not safe for 
Croats or Slovenes to use their language in public, for fear of being 
attacked and mercilessly beaten by the Italian fachini. Many newly 
made graves of such innocent victims attest the truth of the statement. 

Anyone familiar with the Istro-Dalmatian situation foresees the 
certainty of turmoil and unrest in the Western Balkans should Italy 
acquire possession of those countries. It will be evil seed planted in 
bloody soil, and will germinate rapine and bloodshhed. The Balkan 
question, far from being solved, will become still more complicated, and 
its ltimate solution made more troubled and uncertain. It is a part of 
the great Eastern question. 

The Croats and Slovenes as parts of Southern Slavs demand noth- 
ing but what is the birthrighht of every people ; that the lands inhabited 
by them be left to them ; that they have a voice in the solving of their 
destinies, and that they be not trampel down by a foreign invader, whose 
greed is the only motive of its action, and whose cant about "liberating" 
the oppressed people is a cynical mantle behind which lurks its callous 
and selfish aims. 



Page Six 



II. 

"Non opus verbis, credite rebus. " 

Ovid.Fastl.il. 734. 

At the inception and repeatedly during- the present war, the Entente 
Powers proclaimed among other things their aim and motive of liberat- 
ing the Southern Slavs from Hapsbnrg and Magyar bondage. This is 
indeed an exalted purpose. But they have already offered 1 stria and 
Dalmatia to Italy, whose rule there, let it be repeated, would be by far 
?. greater evil than the preservation of the status quo under Austria. 

Vague rumors were circulated by various agents about a great 
South Slav State, to be named "Yougoslavia," after Austria should have 
been dismembered. These easily inflamed the vivid imagination of the 
Balkan Slavs. Through vistas of fancy they saw their country resur- 
rected from its dreamy, tried past, and under the name of Yougoslavia, 
''Great Serbia/' rather than Croatia, should become a reality once more. 
The emissaries of Greater Serbia crossed the Atlantic and proclaimed 
it among the immigrants of their race. Their fiery words echoing 
throughout the hills and valleys of the whole world. 

The realization of these promises is a matter of serious difficulty, 
to understand which, it is necessary to consider certain historical and 
political phenomena of the peoples that would compose the proposed 
new bodv politic or political unit, composed of Croats and Slovenes, 
Serbians and Montenegrins. 

They all belong to the same branch of the Slav race, and except 
for slight differences in dialect, speak the same language. However, 
their sympathies, culture, religion and history are not common to the 
race, but sometimes are even a source of antagonism. These facts con- 
stitute the real difference among a people, otherwise almost identical. 

Religion with these people, besides its spiritual meaning, plays a 
certain national and political role. The Croats and Slovenes are Roman 
Catholics, while Serbians and Montenegrins are Greek Orthodox 
(Schismatics), identifying their denomination with their nationality. In- 
tolerance towards Catholicism in Serbian countries was a quite notice- 
able historical fact. Should a Catholic priest show himself on the streets 
of Belgrade, for example, the chances were that jibes and jeers would 
be flung at him, his vocation and religion. The reverse, however, did 
not hold true in Croat countries. The government there, in fact, sup- 
ports Orthodox churches wherever there is a Serbian community. It 
is not difficult to surmise that this religious intolerance will in future 
have a tendency to antagonize the people of the two creeds, as it has 
been in the past. 

The Catholics in Serbia are under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of 
Djakovo in Slavonia, the see of famous Bishop Strossmayer of happy 
memory. He shared with Mr. Gladstone, as shown by correspondence 
between the two, and with many other leaders of thought and opinion, 
the pious wish for the reunion of the Christendom. But with him this 

Page Seven 



aspiration had a highly practical side, as demonstrated by his efforts 
to promote good feeling, and if possible, union between the Churches of 
Rome and the East. Realizing keenly the hindrances which religious 
rivalry placed in the way of national progress among Southern Slavs, 
he felt that their removal would be the surest means of realizing alike 
his national and his religious ideals. Unhappily, his efforts were not 
understood by the orthodox clergy, especially in Serbia and Russia. 
He was unjustly attacked as a mere agent of Vatican propagandism. 
And when in 1885 he proposed to pay a pastoral visit to the Catholics 
of Belgrade, the Serbian government declined to guarantee his per- 
sonal safety, and the visit had to be abandoned. Such is the intoler- 
ance of the Serbians towards Catholicism, that a Barnabite father sent 
by this great bishop to minister to the thousands of Italian workmen 
engaged in railway work in Serbia, was assaulted, injured, and obliged 
to leave the country. In Serbia the clergy are sunk in formalism and 
their influence is national, not religious. 

The Concordat with Holy See of the present Serbian government 
is the first one since the existence of the Serbian nation, and as such 
offers a broad field for various interpretations and applications, as it 
is shown by practice in the past. The Concordats are a detriment to 
the Church, give apparent legal sanction to the acts of the State against 
the Church as a party in agreement. Wherever separate religious parties 
live in the same land they must work together in harmony for the pub- 
lic weal. But this would be impossible if the State, instead of remain- 
ing above party, were to prefer or oppress one denomination as against 
others. Consequently freedom of religion and conscience is an indis- 
pensable necessity for the State. But in Serbia the only acknowledged 
true religion, and consequently the Church is the Greek Orthodox. The 
Serbian ministers of State, through their emissaries for political pur- 
poses, have proclaimed that they would confine the priests to the sacristy, 
when the new Sun of Freedom in Greater Serbia shall arise. How 
sublime is the address of Leo XIII in his brief of 1902 to the Ameri- 
can hierarchy, expressing his approval of a wise and patriotic adapta- 
tion of the Roman Catholic doctrines to the national and legal condi- 
tions of this great republic of United States in comparison with pyg- 
mean ideas of emissaries. Si licet magna componere parvis. 

The Croats, at the call of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, drove out 
the Avars from the northwestern corner of the Balkan peninsula, and 
in 619 permanently settled what is today Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, 
Herczegovina, Dalmatia and Istria. The Slovenes settled Carniolia, the 
northern part of Istria, Goritcza, Carinthia and Styria in 595. In 924 
Tomislav was crowned the first Croatian king of Duvno field in the 
Herczegovina of today. Since that time the people and State has never 
lost its continuity. The Turks were around Vienna, ruled from Buda- 
pest and Belgrade, but never in Zagreb (Agram), the capital of Croa- 
tia. After the Croats were settled the Serbs came and settled the 

Page Eight 



adjoining eastern territory. 

About 924 the Bulgarian Czar, Simeon the Great, invaded Serbia, 
utterly devastating the country, and the people found refuge in the 
neighboring Croatian countries. In course of time Serbia became a 
Turkish pashalic, great numbers of the Serbians under the leadership 
of Cernoyevich in 1690 fled from under the Turkish yoke, crossing 
over in Croatia and Slavonia, where they wore welcomed by grandees 
and potentates. These two facts, among others, explain the presence 
of the Serbians of today in Croatitan countries. 

There is artificially fabricated undercurrent of belief among Ser- 
bians that Croats and Slovenes are nothing but "Western Serbs," and 
Croatian countries provinces of Great Serbia. History is against it. 
In their dream of creating Great Serbia, Croat countries are included 
as a part of it. These untenable pretensions Croats naturally bitterly 
oppose, and would much rather remain under the sovereignty of the 
Austrian Emperor than become subject to the Pan-Serb illusions. The 
loyalty to the Hapsburgs of Serbs from Croat countries and Croats 
themselves in this war is an indication of their sympathies. Generals 
Boroevich de Bojna and Puhalo de Brlog in Uika in the Austrian army 
against Russia are Serbs. The historic past of Croatia and its coun- 
tries up to the present time, developed individually, distinctly from the 
outset on, apart from Serbian past. The Croats will not renounce their 
history, make blank glorious pages of past written in volumes of na- 
tional poems, parchments and pictures with blood and love for God 
and country and amalgamate with Pan-Serb idea. 

The Croats for centuries, being in contact with Western civiliza- 
tion, absorbed its culture, while the Serbs were influenced by the By- 
zantine atmosphere, and their culture has every earmark of the East. 
To quote a well known authority, Mr. Seton Watson" : "The Pan-Serb 
ideal may be briefly defined as the union of all members of the Serb 
and Croat race under the scepter of the K&rageorgevich dynasty, with 
Belgrade as the capital of the new State. That this ideal should appeal 
to the Chauvinists of the Serbian kingdom is natural enough ; but no 
one who has an opportunity of comparing Belgrade and Zagreb 
(Agram) need make the mistake of supposing that it could be greeted 
with enthusiasm by any Croat, or even by educated Serbs within the 
Monarchy. The triumph of the Pan-Serb idea would mean the triumph 
of Eastern over Western culture, and would be a fatal blow to progress 
and modern development throughout the Balkans." 

Opposed to this Pan-Serb idea is the "Great Croatia" program, 
which would compromise Croatia, Slavonia, Istria, Carniolia, Styria. 
Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herczegovina. Of late years a better under- 
standing has existed between Croats and Serbs in the Triune kingdom, 
although it is very doubtful whether that understanding will continue 
if it should ever happen that the Southern Slavs in the monarchy should 



* Southern Slav question p. 33G. 

Page Nine 



become in some measure independent. For twenty years of oppres- 
sion in Croatia by Ban Hedervary rested on the shoulders of Serbians 
born and brought up in the blook-soaked, martyred country named Croa- 
tia. If Serbia should ever carry out her Pan-Serb policy civil war is 
very likely to follow between Serbs and Croats on account of Serbian 
fanaticism reaching so far and insisting as to effect a complete sup- 
pression of the Croats. 

If after this war the Austro-Hungarian empire is dismembered, 
of which, so far, there is not the slightest indication, the only success- 
ful adjustment among the Southern Slavs would consist in a federaliza- 
tion of the states on the basis of equality, and in not allowing any one 
state to absorb any other. 

If, on the other hand, when the cloud of war has cleared, Austro- 
Hungarian sovereignty and monarchical integrity is not broken down, 
it is most certain that a new policy of federation must be carried out, 
which will give the Slavs in the monarchy full power in the government 
of their respective countries. This must be done if the monarchy ex- 
pects to have permanent peace at home. 

It is indeed a pity that Austria has not introduced this policy 
years ago, for then in all likelihood this war would not have burst over 
Europe, at any rate it would have been postponed indefinitely, and 
some means of definite understanding between the great powers now 
warring might perhaps have been found. At the worst, the present 
Armaghedon of Europe would not have been so titanic. 

Austria has every reason to, and in all probability does regret not 
to have in seasonable time vigorously acted on the question of Trialism 
(Austria-Hungary-Croatia), and thus solved the perplexing problem 
of satisfying partly her Slav population. This solution would have 
cemented loose joints of the monarchy and done away with the possi- 
bility of an internal disruption. 

The murdered Crown Prince foresaw the wisdom and necessity 
of such action, and would no doubt have carried it out on his ascen- 
sion to the throne had he not met a tragic death at Sarajevo. There 
are certain indications that his murder was a relict to the cliques at 
Vienna and Budapest opposed to Trialism. 

But Vienna was unfortunately influenced by the selfish and stub- 
born attitude of politicians from Budapest, who were loath to relin- 
quish this oppressive rule in Croatia-Slavonia. The Magyars found 
a ready ear for their objections, and indeed had as their advocates 
the bureaucrats whose intolerance of the Trialism idea is well known. 

The democracy is coming; she shall break the Magyar oligarchy. 
The price for the long existing oppression of Croats by the Magyars 
is to be paid. 



Page Ten 



HI, 

ISTRIA, TRIESTE, GORIZIA-GRADISCA AND RIJEKA 

(FIUME)* OF TODAY AND THE [MMEDIATE 

PAST. 

"In numbers warmly pure and sweetly strong. " 

Collins, Ode to Simplicity. 

The provinces of Istra (Istria) Trst (Trieste) and Goricza-Gra- 
diska (Gorizia-Gradisca) form the Austrian coast lands, so called. An 
imperial Governor is at the head of the administration, which is centered 
in Trst. Each of these provinces has its own Diet, which represents the 
provincial autonomy. The electoral system is based on the reactionary 
principle of votes according to property, and is so arranged that the Ital- 
ian element is assured of a majority in number of deputies. 

Istra (Istria) has an area of 4955.8 square kilometers. According 
to the official statistics of 1910 there are 220,382 Croats and Slovenes, 
and 145,525 Italians. In Austria the census is made by the municipal 
authorities. The population is not counted according to nationalities, 
but to the language mostly spoken ; and the councils of the various par- 
ties often misuse this method of reckoning for their own ends. The 
Croats and Slovenes make use of Italian as lingua franca. In Eastern 
and Central Istra, where the boroughs are Slav, the actions of the 
Borough Councils are under a strict Government control, but in Western 
Istra and on the Island of Cres (Cherso) and Lusinj (Lussino), where 
the boroughs are in the hands of Italian minority, this strict control does 
not exist. 

In Istra more than two thirds of the native population are Croats 
and Slovenes, not even Italianized as such. During her rule over Wes- 
tern Istra and the Islands, Central and Eastern Istra have never been 
under Venetian domination, the Venetian Republic artificially created 
an Italian majority in the coast towns of Western Istra in Buje (Buie) 
Motovun (Montona) and Labin (Albona). 

After the fall of the Venetian Republic, Austria created the "Illy- 
rian Government" by uniting Istra, Trst and Goricza ; in all which lands 
Austria has purposely neglected the Slav element and favored Italians. 
Till within the last thirty years Italian was the official language of the 
authorities, and with the exception of four or five elementary schools 
for Croats and Slovenes, the instruction in all other schools in Istra was 
carried on in Italian. When the National movement of the last decades 
caused the Croats and Slovenes to demand school instruction in their own 
language, the Italian school boards, supported by private Italian Socie- 
ties — such as the "'Lega Nationale," forced Italian schools upon the 
Croats and Slovenes and thus artificially created Italians out of the purely 
Slav population. 

On the island of Krk (Veglia) the native population is exclusively 
Croatian. However, during the rule of the Venetian Republic several 
Italian officials and their families settled in the town of Krk (Veglia) 

P.ige Eleven 



Cres (Cherso) and Lusinj (Lussino) and founded the Italian element 
there. Later on, the Austrian Government made use of the Italian 
schools to accelerate the process of denationalizing the Croatian popula- 
tion. According to the statistics of 1910, compiled by the Italian Mu- 
nicipal Board, there were nevertheless 29,623 Croats on the Island of 
Krk, as against 11,393 Italians, or rather Italianized Croats and Slovenes. 

Throughout Istra the bulk of Slav population is agricultural, where- 
as the Italians are settled only in the above mentioned towns. This ex- 
plains the fact that in the whole of Istra, taking into account the districts 
where the Slav element amounts to only 40 per cent or 50 per cent of 
the population, 902.12 square kilometers is occupied by Italians, while 
the remaining area of 4053.68 square kilometres is occupied by Slovenes 
and Croats. Therefore, only 18.22 per cent of the land in Istra belongs 
to Italians while 81.78 per cent is Croatian or Slovenian landed property. 

Trst (Trieste). The town province of Trst consists of the town 
proper and its environs. In the town the Italians are in the majority, 
but the Croats and Slovenes constitute the majority in the environs. 
The neighboring villages of Prosek, Kontovelj, Sveti Kriz, Opcine, 
Bane, Gropada, Trebici, Bazovice, Lonjer and Katinara are inhabited 
entirely by a native Slovenian population. The proportion of the two 
nationalities in the town and environs can be approximately estimated 
from the result of the political elections for the Vienna Parliament in 
191 1, as these elections were made on the basis of universal suffrage. 
In the town proper, the Italian candidate received 13,145 votes (70 per 
cent) and the Slovenian 5,647 (30 per cent). In the environs of Trst 
the Slovenian candidate received 5,006 (81 per cent), and the Italian 
only 1,192 votes (19 per cent). According to this, the Italians had 
13,373 (56 per cent) all told, and the Slovenes and Croats 10,650 (44.5 
per cent) in Trst. However, this proportion of the votes does not fully 
correspond with the numerical proportion of the nationalities, because 
the municipal administration is in the hands of Italians, who are using 
it in order to oppress the Slavic element, from an economical, cultural 
and political point of view. We must not forget that the Borough of 
Trst persistently refuses to establish a school for Croatian and Slovenian 
children in the city. Therefore the Slovenians and Croats have been 
obliged to erect schools out of their own private resources. But these 
have proven insufficient ; and therefore a large number of their children 
are compelled to attend non-Slav schools. On municipal works the 
Municipal Board will only employ Italian clerks and workmen, man) 
of whom came from the Italian kingdom. Thus, a misused municipal 
authority is able to exert a strong pressure on the expression of the na- 
tional will during the elections. Thanks to this pressure and the elec- 
toral system, the town Council of Trst includes 69 Italians and only 12 
Slovenian deputies. 

Trst is situated in territory which is geographically Slavic, because 
its hinterland is peopled entirely by Croats and Slovenes and the Coast 

Page Tr»elve 



from Trst up to Trzich (Monfalcone) is likewise Slovenian. 

Goricza*-Gradiska (Gorizia Gradisca). The name itself is Sloven- 
ian. As will be seen from the map the Italian element in this province 
only extends in the North as far as Cormons, and along the railway as 
far as Goricza ; in the East as far as the river Sotcha (Isonzo) and from 
Gradiska Goricza in an almost straight line to Trzich (Monfalcone). The 
rest of the whole province is inhabited entirely by Slovenes, as is also part 
of the Italian province of Udine, where more than 30,000 Slovenes have 
preserved their nationality from Italian assimilation. 

The provincial autonomy is in the hands of a Diet consisting of 30 
members, who are elected on the basis of a compromise between the 
two nations. The Italian portion of the province (the valley of Friuli) 
elects 15 members and the Slovenian portion (Kras and Brda), 15 mem- 
bers, although the Slovene territory is far greater than the Italian, and 
the population far more numerous. The whole province has an area of 
7,696 square kilometres, and a population of 249,893 inhabitants, of 
which 155,275 are Slovens and 90,110 Italians. Goricza, the capital, is 
a town of mixed nationality, where the statistics of the Italian Municipal 
Board, in spite of indescribable pressure brought to bear upon the 
Slovene population, could in 1910 enumerate only 14,812 Italians, as 
against 11,157 Slovenes. Included in the jurisdiction of the courts of 
Gradiska are yet another 2,734 Italians and 41,512 Slovenes, so that the 
whole jurisdiction of the courts includes 52,669 Slovenes and 17,546 
Italians. Therefore it will be clearly seen that the town of Goricza itself 
lies, ethnographically speaking, on Slovene territory. 

Rijeka (Fiume). The town with its suburbs lies between Istra and 
the river Rijecina. Till the middle of the XIX century it was only a 
small harbor town; and the neighboring towns, Bakar and Senj, enjoyed 
for greater importance. From time immemorial the native population 
of Rijeka has been exclusively Croatian. It was never under Venetian 
rule, and at one time belonged to the Dukes of Croatia. Subsequently 
Rijeka came into the possession of the Habsburgs, and in 1776, Em- 
press Maria Therese reincorporated it with Croatia. Rijeka first began 
to develop commercially in the XIX century, soon after Hungary be- 
gan to cast about for a port on the Adriatic. Finally, in 1868, after many 
struggles between Hungary and Croatia, by an infamous falsification 
of a paragraph in the Compromise between Hungary and Croatia, Rijeka 
was declared "a special body connected with the Hungarian crown — 
"seperatum sacrae regni coronae adnexum corpus." The variant texts 
run as follows, Magyar text: "in the sense of the preceding paragraph 
there are recognized as belonging to the territory of Croatia Slavonia 
and Dalmatia : 

1. That district which at present, together with the town and 
district of (Buccari) Bakar belongs to the county of Fiume, with the 
exception of the town and district of Fiume. The town, harbour, and 

* Gorica, forest, grove, vineyard. 

Page Thirteen 



district of Fiume form a special body connected with the Hungarian 
crown, concerning whose special autonomy and the legislative and ad- 
ministrative affairs relating thereto, an agreement will have to be reach- 
ed by means of negotiations between the Hungarian Parliament, the 
Diet of Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia and the town of Fiume in joint 
understanding. . . ."The Croatian text runs: "In the sense of the pre- 
ceding paragraph it is recognized that the territorial extent of the king- 
doms of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia comprises : — 

i. The whole district which at present, together with the town of 
Bakar (Buccari) and its district, belongs to the county of Fiume, with 
the exception of the town of Fiume and its district, regarding which an 
agreement could not be reached between the two Regnicolar Deputa- 
tions" . ..." The two versions of the document were in due course sub- 
mitted to His Majesty, Francis Joseph, for signature; and a thin strip 
of paper, 22.7x9.8 centimeters in dimensions, bearing on it a translation 
of the Magyar version, as given above, was then stuck over the corres- 
ponding portion of the Croat text ! ! The original document is preserved 
in the Croatian Archives, where this singular falsification of an impor- 
tant State document may be verified. The interpolated passage is not 
even in the same handwriting as the rest of the document. By such pro- 
cedure Rijeka is included in the Magyar administration, with Italian 
jargon as official language. 

In 1910 the population of Rijeka numbered 46,806 of whom, accord- 
ing to the official statistics made by the Italian Municipal Board only 
18,128 were Croats and Slovenes. That these statistics are biased is 
clearly demonstrated by the fact that the statistics of 1854 show only 
3,700 Italians ; but in 1900 the Italian Municipal Board in their statis- 
tics counted 1,000 Croats less than in 1910. Now, as all along the coast 
the Croatian element appears far stronger in 1910 than in 1900, it is 
surely highly improbable that in Rijeka, where the national struggle has 
been so extremely fierce, the Croat element should have so markedly 
declined. Their birthrate is high ; family life moral. The town of Susak, 
separated from Rijeka only by the river Rijecina, lies on Croatian terri- 
tory, and in 1910 had a population of 13,214 Croats. 

Italian territorial aspirations. According to De Agostini's map "La 
regione Veneta e le Alpi nostre" (Novara 191 5) a line drawn from the 
Italian frontier across the Triglav, Crna prst, Javornik, Sneznik, and 
through the Croatian Gorski Kotar to the Gulf of Kvarner, indicates the 
extend of the Italian territorial aspirations on the shores of the Adriatic. 
Apart from Dalmatia and the Islands, which she arrogates to herself as 
far as Neretva (Narenta), Italy aspires "to complete her national unity" 
by taking from Croatian and Slovenian lands, the whole of county 
Goricza (population 155,275 Slovenes, against 90,119 Italians), where 
the Italian element lives only in the vallev of Furlana and the town of 
Goricza (Gorizia) with 14,812 Italians against 11,235 Slovenians; also 
the town of Trst (60,077 Slovenes and Croats), the whole of Istra 

Page Fourteen 



(226,306 Croats and Slovenes against 147,417 Ctalians), the Carniolian 
district of Logatec and Postojna (Adelsberg), with a purely Croatian 
and Slovenian population of 83,499 inhabitants, the town of Rijeka with 
a part of Croatian Gorski Kotar and a part of Carinthia lying near the 
Italian frontier. Bearing in mind the fact that the town of Rijeka with 
Susak has 31,342 Croats inhabitants, and adding to this the Slovenian 
population of those parts of Carinthia and Croatia, which cannot be yet 
defined, and to which Italy is trying to establish a claim, and further re- 
membering that the official statistics in the cities ruled by Italians are 
very much biased, and that in 1910 there were 66,892 foreigners in Carin- 
thia and the Croatian Littorale (except Rijeka and Susak) many of 
whom were from Croatia and Slavonia, Bosnia, Herczegovine, Styria and 
Carniolia, it is obvious that Italy is trying to annex at least 570,000 Slo- 
venians and Croats apart from the inhabitants of Dalmatia and adjoining 
islands. As apart of the Slovenian territotry of Goricza (the province of 
Udine with more than 30,000 Slovenes) already belongs to Italy, her fu- 
ture borders on her Northeast frontiers would include 600,000 Croats and 
Slovenes. These from time immemorial have formed a compact popu- 
lation on their own territory. And they have culturally, politically and 
economically progressed in such a degree, that they cannot, under any 
circumstances be expected to submit to any foreign yoke whatsoever, 
but will insist on being united as true brothers, and permitted free 
national development in the independent Croatian State. 

* See: Slav Committee report. London. July. 1915. 



Pate Fifteen 



Typis 

The Catholic Register 

Kansas Cit\> 



Typis 

The Catholic Register 

Kansas Citv 



P/RAN 



«lh Hit '«> 



L/rr/?//ooi//f 

PqREC 
P/fR£NZ o 



.OWN 



•♦. 






vin 



pU l 



Cnas 



Oso> 



ortfi\JH/HJE 
O Sl / VA/Q 

SOXgM oPwxor 

^ABREZ/A//7 

, O 5o Kriz ' 






wm Italia ns 

■ Croats *« Slovenes 

9 Bishoprics 

% Mixed Populat/oh 

ft/J/L WA YS 

•~~- Rl VERS 

/r,lL I Art PRETERS/O/iS 

xxx Bounorries Austro- Ita 
*H/GH£sr Perks lM " s 



Grljaa 

fltRAtlAR 

SAR/COVLJ 

TRST 

Tr/estl 



o Pros eh 
oKomtovelj 



o Opcinz 
Trstenik _ 7- „ j- 

Q^ O /REB/CE 

O Grofada 
O PadR/c 

L °^ £ " B*20VICA 
O SU. ft. riAGD 



Skedahj 



O RlCMAMJE 



/COPRR 
CAFOO/srR/A 



A1UGG//1 
nUJE O DO LI ISA 

o Osp 



O 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 394 272 4 




